In a patient healthcare environment, such as a hospital room, certain patient monitoring devices and treatment devices provide acoustic signals indicative of status. Some of those signals can relate to a patient condition or can relate to a medical device condition for which a clinician should be called or alerted as soon as possible. Other acoustic signals are of lesser importance and should not be the basis for interrupting a clinician in the performance of other tasks. Additionally, there may be other acoustic signals generated in a patient hospital room that are completely unrelated to patient care and for which no clinician attention should be given. For example, patient visitors may bring mobile telephones that emit unusual acoustic sounds or signals, or visitors may have other electronic devices, such as portable computers, that emit acoustic signals, none of which should form the basis for alerting the healthcare staff. Televisions, radios, and intercoms in patient rooms may also emit sounds which should be distinguished from acoustic signals from medical devices.
An example of a medical device acoustic signal is that given by an infusion pump when the tubing of the medication administration set becomes occluded downstream of the pump so that the infusion of medical fluid to the patient is interrupted. Most infusion pumps will provide an acoustic signal that will communicate to a clinician that there is a problem with the infusion. These acoustic signals can be quite loud and are meant to attract attention. However, there are times when the person charged with supervising the medical device is not close enough to the medical device to hear the acoustic alarm signal. Making the acoustic alarm signal louder so that it may be heard from a greater distance is undesirable since it would disturb patients in other rooms.
In prior attempts to solve this problem, some medical devices were configured to communicate directly, via wired or wireless means, to a preexisting healthcare facility communications network or “nurse call” system. However, wires may be cumbersome and present a hazard, especially when the medical device is located at a significant distance from a nurse call communications port. Wires are also inconvenient because they must disconnected when the medical device is moved out of a patient's room. Furthermore, wires are undesirable because they may inadvertently remain disconnected when the medical device is returned to the room. Many facilities do not include a wireless nurse call system and when they do, in some cases the wireless communications protocol may differ from that of the medical device thereby preventing an operable connection. Whether wired or wireless means are used, a medical device designed to operate with a particular nurse call system of a healthcare facility must incorporate communications hardware and software which make the device more expensive. A healthcare institution may be unwilling to replace older medical devices with newer, more expensive devices that incorporate such necessary communications hardware and software. The increased expense may be prohibitive especially when multiplied by tens or hundreds of medical devices in a healthcare facility.
As shown in FIG. 1, typical nurse call systems in healthcare facilities often include a panel 100 on the wall of a patient's room 102. The panel is often located near the patient's bed and typically comprises a jack or connector 104 of some type that accepts a plug 106 with a long cable 108 terminating in a nurse call button or switch 110 at the patient's bedside. The patient 112 manually actuates the nurse call button whenever the patient needs assistance from a clinician 114 who may be located at a remote clinician station 116. The patient may also actuate the nurse call button whenever a medical device 118 in the patient's room generates an acoustic alarm to alert the clinician of the alarm.
When the nurse call signal is activated by the patient, the clinician can determine from which room the signal originated because the rooms are individually displayed at, typically, the clinician workstation 117 in the clinician station. The clinician workstation 117 can also have an acoustic alarm in combination with a visual indicator that alert a clinician that a nurse call has been initiated. More sophisticated workstations are capable of being programmed to contact a nurse-in-charge who has a portable communication device. Portable communication devices include, without limitation, pagers, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), and mobile telephones. Some healthcare facilities include an Ethernet network system to which the nurse call system is connected. Such nurse call systems can send text or other coded messages to the clinician.
As previously mentioned, clinicians are not always present in the same room as a patient and the medical devices connected to the patient. In addition, a medical device emitting an acoustic alarm that is not heard and responded to by a clinician for any period of time may cause anxiety in patients. Furthermore, it may be difficult for a clinician to immediately pinpoint which room or patient has a medical device that is emitting an alarm in situations where there are many patients connected to numerous medical devices. Another consideration is that there are times when the patient is asleep, unconscious, or is physically unable to actuate the nurse call button.
Hence a need has been recognized by those skilled in the art for an automatic apparatus and method for notifying a clinician of an acoustic alarm generated by a medical device. There is also a need for a simple and inexpensive means of automatically sending a signal or message to an existing nurse call system in response to medical device acoustic alarms. To lessen the chances of a false alarm and to allow customization to suit the needs of a clinician, there is a further need for such an apparatus and method to distinguish between acoustic signals of no importance and those of importance to the clinician. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.